Ph.D., Ecology (with certificate in Conservation Management)

UC Davis

Davis, CA

2018 - 2014

• Population genetics of a sentinel stream-breeding frog (Rana boylii)

M.S., Biology

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

2010 - 2008

• Thesis: Landscape Genetics of Foothill Yellow-Legged Frogs (Rana boylii) in regulated and unregulated rivers: Assessing connectivity and genetic fragmentation

B.S., Wildlife, Fish & Conservation Ecology

UC Davis

Davis, CA

2002 - 1998

• Emphasis in Behavioral Ecology

Post-doctoral Researcher

Center for Watershed Sciences

UC Davis

2020 - 2018

• Analysis of connectivity and genetic health of rare endemic frogs in CA, NV, and AZ to inform conservation management.
• Analysis of floodplain foodwebs for salmon to better understand connectivity and seasonality for management.
• Research and analysis on how to link ecological bioassessment data with flow management for functional environmental flows.

Graduate Student Researcher

Center for Watershed Sciences

UC Davis

2018 - 2014

• Research in amphibian/aquatic ecology, with particular focus on assessing ecological health with molecular techniques to inform conservation in river ecosystems.

Jr. Research Specialist

Center for Watershed Sciences

UC Davis

2014 - 2011

• Research in stream ecology and montane aquatic ecosystems, with particular focus on ecosystem function and hydroclimatic impacts on regulated rivers in the Sierra Nevada.

Research Assistant II

UC Berkeley

Berkeley, CA

2010 - 2009

• As part of a California Energy Commission study of regulated flow effects on foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii) breeding habitat, led field research crews for extensive field data collection.
• Collaborated with Sarah Yarnell and Amy Lind on field methodology and integrating graduate research with the grant research.

Research Assistant II

UC Davis

Davis, CA

2009

• Working with Sarah Kupferberg and Alessandro Catenazzi, assisted in research, as part of a California Energy Commission study, of regulated flow effects on water temperatures and foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii)
• Including predation experiments and tadpole growth experiments, Helped deploy thermographs in various Sierran rivers throughout California. Conducting research on tributary density in relation to amphibian occupancy in regulated rivers in California.

Fish & Wildlife Biologist

Stillwater Sciences

Davis CA

2011 - 2002

• Field and Project Manager, conducted research in aquatic, terrestrial, and riparian ecosystems. Assisted in the development of restoration, conservation, and management strategies in various watersheds throughout California and Oregon for amphibian and fisheries related projects.
• Extensive experience completing watershed analyses. Successfully worked independently and collaboratively on various projects including leading field crews, managing budgets, conducting meetings, analyzing data, and writing comprehensive reports.
• Watershed Experience: Alameda Creek (San Francisco Public Utilities Commission), Upper American River (Sacramento Municipal Utility District), South Fork Feather River (South Feather Water & Power), Yuba River (North, Middle, and South) (CH2MHill), Napa River and Floodplain (US Army Corp of Engineers), Santa Clara River (California State Coastal Conservancy), McKenzie River (Eugene Water and Electric Board), Upper Merced River (Merced Alliance), Butte Creek and West Branch Feather River (PG&E), McCloud and Pit Rivers (PG&E)

Biological Science Technician

USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station

Davis, CA

2010

• Developed and designed website on ecology, river regulation and conservation of the foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii), including GIS synthesis and development of a distribution map showing over 6,000 records from multiple sources (http://gis.fs.fed.us/psw/topics/wildlife/herp/rana_boylii/).
• Conducted 1-D RHABSIM modeling and analysis. Coordinate field research, data collection, and writing.

Biological Science Technician

National Park Service

Sequoia & Kings Canyon, CA

2001

• Part of a 2-person backcountry crew working on a federally threatened Sierra/Mountain yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae) conservation and restoration project during the initial year of the project.
• This position involved extensive backpacking and hiking experience while living in remote and rugged terrain at 10,000-12,000 feet for multiple weeks at a time. Required the ability to work independently, efficiently, and safely.
• Conducted amphibian surveys of mountain lakes and identified amphibian species in larval and adult stages, habitat assessment, data collection, and non-native fish removal.

Understanding community assembly rules in managed floodplain food-webs

Ecosphere (in press)

N/A

2020

• Corline, Nicholas J., Ryan A. Peek, Jacob Montgomery, Jacob V.E. Katz and Carson A. Jeffres.

A functional flows approach to selecting ecologically relevant flow metrics for environmental flow applications

River Research and Applications, 36 (2), 318-324.

DOI: 10.1002/rra.3575

2020

• Yarnell, S. M., Stein, E. D., Webb, J. A., Grantham, T., Lusardi, R. A., Zimmerman, J., Peek, R. A., Lane, B. A., Howard, J., & Sandoval-Solis, S.

Flow regulation associated with decreased genetic health of a river-breeding frog species

in review

N/A

2020

• Peek, R.A., S.M. O’Rourke, M.R. Miller.

Hybridization between two sympatric ranid frog species in the northern Sierra Nevada

Molecular Ecology, 28 (20), 4636–4647.

DOI: 10.1111/mec.15236

2019

• Peek, R., M. Bedwell, S. O’Rourke, G. Wengert, C. Goldberg, M. Miller.

A Lentic Breeder in Lotic Waters: Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged Frog (Rana sierrae) Habitat Suitability in Northern Sierra Nevada Streams.

Copeia, 107(4), 676–693.

DOI: 10.1643/CH-19-213

2019

• Yarnell, S.M., R.A. Peek, N. Keung, B.D. Todd, S. Lawler, C. Brown

The ecological importance of unregulated tributaries to benthic invertebrate communities in a regulated river

Hydrobiologia, 829, 291–305.

DOI: 10.1007/s10750-018-3840-4

2018

• Milner, V.S., S.M. Yarnell, R.A. Peek.

A Freshwater Blueprint for California: Prioritizing freshwater habitat for conservation in California to maximize biodiversity and leverage existing protected areas.

Freshwater Science, 37 (2), 417-431.

DOI: 10.1086/697996

2018

• Howard, J.K., K.R. Klausmeyer, K.A. Fesenmyer, J. Furnish, T. Gardali, T. Grantham, J.V. Katz, S. Kupferberg, P. McIntyre, P.B. Moyle, P.R. Ode, R. Peek, R.M. Quinones, A.C. Rehn, N. Santos, S. Schoenig, L. Serpa, J.D. Shedd, J. Slusark, J.H. Viers, A. Wright and S.A. Morrison.

Associating Metrics Of Hydrologic Variability With Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities In Regulated And Unregulated Snowmelt-Dominated Rivers.

Freshwater Biology 63 (8), 844-858.

DOI: 10.1111/fwb.12994.

2018

• Steel, A.E., R.A. Peek, R.A. Lusardi, S.M. Yarnell.

Management of the Spring Snowmelt Recession in Regulated Systems.

JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association 52(3), 723-736.

DOI: 10.1111/1752-1688.12424

2016

• Yarnell, S., R. Peek, G. Epke and A. Lind.

Missing the boat on freshwater fish conservation in California.

Conservation Letters 10(1), 77–85.

DOI: 10.1111/conl.12249

2016

• Grantham, T., K. Fesenmeyer, R. Peek, E. Holmes, A. Bell, R. Quiñones, N. Santos, J. Howard, J. Viers, P. Moyle.

Patterns of Freshwater Species Richness, Endemism, and Vulnerability in California.

PLoS One 10(7): e0130710.

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130710

2015

• Howard, J.K., K.R. Klausmeyer, K.A. Fesenmyer, J. Furnish, T. Gardali, T. Grantham, J.V. Katz, S. Kupferberg, P. McIntyre, P.B. Moyle, P.R. Ode, R. Peek, R.M. Quinones, A.C. Rehn, N. Santos, S. Schoenig, L. Serpa, J.D. Shedd, J. Slusark, J.H. Viers, A. Wright and S.A. Morrison.

Drawing Boundaries with DNA to Improve Conservation

California Water Blog

N/A

2020

• Story about using genetics to draw boundaries for conservation management

Cue the Frogs! Water signatures, environmental cues and climate change

California Water Blog

N/A

2016

• Story about environmental cues for amphibians in rivers

Time Lapse Photos Expose Nature in the Raw

California Water Blog

N/A

2015

• Story about using game cameras to monitor the environment

Strategies & Techniques for Analyzing Microbial Population Structures

Marine Biological Laboratory

Woods Hole, MA

2020 - 2019

• Research facilitator/teacher for the STAMPS course on analysis of metagenomic data. Provided interdisciplinary bioinformatic and statistical training to practitioners of molecular microbial ecology and genomics.
• Topics covered included acquisition and organization of next generation sequence data; principles of quality control of sequence data and data management; methods of taxonomic assignment and clustering of targeted gene data. Also an introduction to the Linux command-line and R statistical environments. (https://www.mbl.edu/education/courses/stamps/)

Data Carpentry Workshops

Various

N/A

2020 - 2016

• Teach researchers in science, engineering, medicine, and related disciplines the computing skills they need to get more done using open source and reproducible tools. Specifically, have taught genomics/ecology/geospatial workshops at Stanford, UC Davis, UC Berkeley, and University of Rhode Island Coastal Institute. (http://software-carpentry.org/) (http://www.datacarpentry.org/)

R for Data Analysis and Visualization in Science

UC Davis

Davis, CA

2019 - 2017

• Lead instructor and creator of graduate course teaching R and version control for 25+ students. Course designed to train students in toolsets applicable to the entire process of reproducible data-driven research and encourage the use of open-source tools.
• Built website and made course materials openly available on github. (https://gge-ucd.github.io/R-DAVIS/).
• now a required graduate course in Ecology

Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog Ecology, Management, and Regulation

Humboldt State

Arcata, CA

2018

• One of three main instructors for workshop designed to cover the natural history and management of the foothill yellow-legged frog.
• Three days of lecture followed by a field day covered ecological requirements of the species, mitigation, restoration, and permitting requirements if listing takes place

Intro to Genomics (Data Carpentry)

DIBSI

Davis, CA

2018

• Co-instructor. Data Intensive Biology Summer Institute at UC Davis is a series of two-day or week-long workshops for biologists to learn bioinformatics and data science. The Intro to R course was built as an interactive, week-long introduction to the programming language R. Following Carpentry workshop content, taught basics of R by live-coding with participants
• (https://dib-lab.github.io/2018-06-27-DIBSI-Genomics/)

Intro to R

DIBSI

Davis, CA

2017

• Co-Instructor. Data Intensive Biology Summer Institute at UC Davis is a series of two-day or week-long workshops for biologists to learn bioinformatics and data science. The Intro to R course was built as an interactive, week-long introduction to the programming language R. Following Carpentry workshop content, taught basics of R by live-coding with participants
• (https://mikoontz.github.io/data-carpentry-week/)

Ecogeomorphology

UC Davis

Davis, CA

2015

• Co-instructor. Taught advanced undergraduate students to multidisciplinary collaborative watershed and stream analysis through combined laboratory and field study of a selected stream system. Educated students from diverse backgrounds to work in interdisciplinary research teams to collect and analyze field data from the Tuolumne River system.
• Serve as rafting guide, as well as lectured, and taught in classroom, lab, and field, including a 3 day rafting trip on the Tuolumne River. (https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/education/classes/)

Geospatial Analysis

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA

2010

• Teaching Assistant
• Lab instructor for undergraduate geospatial analysis course using ArcGIS; planned and conducted lab activities and led discussions for one semester

A Watershed Moment

UC Davis Magazine, Spring.

N/A

2014

Cool and Collected

College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Outlook, Spring

N/A

2013

Tips for Souping of RMarkdown Documents

N/A

N/A

2020

• Top ten tips for making RMarkdown better

The Aggie Brickyard. A Student Run Magazine

Co-Founder & Design Editor

UC Davis

2019 - 2015

Management of the Spring Snowmelt Recession: An Integrated Analysis of Empirical, Hydrodynamic, and Hydropower Modeling Applications

Final Report. California Energy Commission. Publication number: CEC-500-2013. 137 pp.

N/A

2013

• Yarnell, S.M, R.A. Peek, D.E. Rheinheimer, A.J. Lind, and J.H. Viers

Montane Meadows in the Sierra Nevada: Changing Hydroclimatic Conditions and Concepts for Vulnerability Assessment

Center for Watershed Sciences Technical Report (CWS-2013-01), University of California, Davis. 63 pp.

N/A

2013

• Viers, J.H., SE Purdy, R.A. Peek, A. Fryoff-Hung, N.R. Santos, J.V.E. Katz, J.D. Emmons, D.V. Dolan, and S.M. Yarnell.

Validation of Regional Habitat Suitability Criteria and Instream Flow Modeling Applications for the Foothill Yellow-Legged Frog (Rana boylii)

Final Report. California Energy Commission, PIER. Publication number: CEC-500-2011.

N/A

2011

• Yarnell, S., A. Lind, C. Bondi, R. Peek, and J. Mount. 2011.

Landscape Genetics of Foothill Yellow-legged Frogs (Rana boylii) in regulated and unregulated rivers: Assessing connectivity and genetic fragmentation.

Master’s Thesis, Biology Department. University of San Francisco, CA. 69 pp.

N/A

2010

• Peek, R. A.

Variation in thermal niche of a declining river-breeding frog: From counter-gradient responses to population distribution patterns.

Freshwater Biology 62(7):1255–1265. DOI: 10.1111/fwb.12942

N/A

2017

• Catenazzi, A., S. J. Kupferberg.

California Amphibian and Reptile Species of Special Concern.

University of California Press

N/A

2016

• Thomson, R.C., A.N. Wright, H.B. Shaffer.

Frogs of the United States and Canada, 2-vol. set.

Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

N/A

2013

• Dodd, C.K.J.

Transferability of habitat suitability criteria for a stream breeding frog (Rana boylii) in the Sierra Nevada, California.

Herpetological Conservation and Biology 8(1):88-–103.

N/A

2013

• Bondi, C.A., S.M. Yarnell, and A.J. Lind. 2013.

Effects of Flow Regimes Altered by Dams on Survival, Population Declines, and Range-Wide Losses of California River-Breeding Frogs.

Conservation Biology 26(3): 513–524.

N/A

2012

• Kupferberg, S.J., W.J. Palen, A.J. Lind, S. Bobzien, A. Catenazzi, J. Drennan, and M.E. Power.

Removal of nonnative fish results in population expansion of a declining amphibian (mountain yellow-legged frog, Rana muscosa).

Biological Conservation 135(1): 11–20.

N/A

2007

• Knapp, R.A., D.M. Boiano, V.T. Vredenburg.

Beyond an Annual Meeting: A Discussion about Engaging in Amphibian Conservation Outside of January.

Amphibian Population Task Force (APTF), San Diego, 9–11 Jan.

N/A

2020

• Peek, Ryan.

Bridging Troubled Waters: Merging disciplines for conservation in freshwater ecosystems.

Invited Ecology Seminar Speaker, UNLV. Las Vegas, NV. 8 Dec.

N/A

2019

• Peek, Ryan.

Using Benthic Macroinvertebrate Data to Assess and Inform Flow Management Recommendations in California

California Aquatic Bioassessment Workgroup/California Society for Freshwater Science Meeting, Davis, 24 Oct.

N/A

2019

• Peek, Ryan, A. Obester, S. Yarnell, R. Lusardi, N. Santos.

Hybridization between two parapatric ranid frog species in the northern Sierra Nevada, California

Amphibian Population Task Force (APTF), Arcata, 9–11 Jan.

N/A

2019

• Peek, R., M. Bedwell, S. O’Rourke, G. Wengert, C. Goldberg, M. Miller.

Plasticity in timing of hydrologic spawning cues for the foothill yellow-legged frog (Rana boylii) under Mediterranean climate extremes in Sierra Nevada rivers

Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) Annual Meeting, Raleigh, NC, 5–8 Jun.

N/A

2017

• Peek, R., S. Yarnell

Coordinator

Davis R-Users Group

N/A

2020 - 2015

• https://d-rug.github.io/

Software & Data Carpentry Instructor

Carpentries

N/A

2020 - 2016

• https://carpentries.org/instructors/

Data Lab Affiliate

UC Davis Data Lab

N/A

2020 - 2016

• https://datalab.ucdavis.edu/affiliated-students-and-postdocs/

Center for Watershed Science Executive Committee

UC Davis

N/A

2020 - 2019

• Liaison between researchers and academic faculty conducting research, representative for represents postdocs and non-academic senate researchers.

National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) workgroup

Bay Delta Science Program

N/A

2020

• Collaborative multi-agency and academic workgroup formed to focus on data synthesis of long-term trends in the San Francisco Estuary food webs critical to supporting multiple endemic fish species of conservation concern.

Society for Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR)

N/A

N/A

N/A

Ecology Society of America (ESA) | Society for Freshwater Science (SFS)

N/A

N/A

N/A

Whitewater Rafting Guide, Outdoor Adventures, UC Davis

N/A

N/A

N/A